EDMONTON — Alberta’s fledgling Freedom Conservative party has picked a replacement for leader Derek Fildebrandt who is leaving politics.

David White, a paramedic and small business owner, has been chosen as interim boss until a vote is held sometime next year for a permanent leader.

White says even though the party was shut out of the legislature in last month’s election, it will be vocal over the next four years to hold United Conservative Premier Jason Kenney’s government to account.

Fildebrandt founded the Freedom Conservatives last year after he was expelled from Kenney’s caucus.

The party ran 24 candidates in the election on a platform of slashing personal and business taxes, cutting government spending, ending all interprovincial trade barriers and privatizing Crown corporations.

It attracted fewer than 10,000 votes — less than one per cent of total votes cast.

Fildebrandt, standing with White at a news conference Wednesday in front of the legislature, reiterated that he will help the party, but is done with elected life and will focus on returning to the private sector.

“I’ve got a young family and I’ve got life ahead of me that doesn’t involve the colonoscopy of partisan politics and media,” said Fildebrandt.

White said he believes the party can grow. He said potential supporters had said they were voting for Kenney’s UCP to ensure the demise of former premier Rachel Notley’s NDP.

“Albertans were especially concerned with the NDP government,” said White. “There have been multiple people that had said to all of our candidates: ‘We’re interested in you. We would vote for you, but we don’t want to take a chance on splitting the vote.”‘

The United Conservatives won the election by taking 63 of the legislature’s 87 seats. The NDP won 24 seats. All other parties were shut out.